Computer and software users have grown accustomed to performing a variety of tasks using a number of different software applications. Letters, memoranda and other documents are prepared using word processing applications. Presentations and drawings are prepared using slide presentation applications. Financial reports and other data manipulation are prepared and performed using spreadsheet applications. Electronic mail, calendar information, tasks and notes are entered, exchanged and maintained using electronic mail and calendar applications, and a variety of other tasks are performed with other applications.
At any given time, a typical software user may have multiple applications and multiple documents in use, where each application user interface and each launched document is displayed in one or more display frames on the user's computer display screen. In such cases, deployed applications and associated documents are in a given state at any given time. For example, a deployed word processing application may be displaying page 4 of a memorandum. At the same time, a user's electronic mail application may be deployed showing the user's contacts information. A spreadsheet document may be deployed, and the fifth sheet of data may be displayed showing data the user is reviewing while preparing the memorandum currently displayed by her word processing application.
Unfortunately, computers and software applications are often unexpectedly shut down for a variety of reasons. A power outage may cause a computer and any applications presently in use to shut down. An operating system or software application may “crash” where some aspect of data being processed or some aspect of processing sequencing in the operating system or application becomes problematic and causes the operating system or application to shut down. On the other hand, often a computer or software application shutdown is intentional, but still unexpected to the user. For example, while the user is away from her computer, a computer system administrator at her organization may load a software patch (update or other software modification) to one or more applications she is currently using, followed by a restart of her computer for properly integrating the patch with the subject application.
Such intended or unintended shutdowns and restarts often cause a loss of data being entered or edited by a user at the time of the shutdown, and moreover, such shutdowns and restarts often result in a loss of the current application state of the various applications in use at the time of the shutdown and subsequent restart. That is, the number of applications deployed, the locations on the display screen of the various application display frames, the deployment of particular documents or other data, the editing locations in deployed documents, and other application settings states are lost. After the shutdown and subsequent restart, the user must redeploy each application and associated document or other data, reposition and resize the application display frames for each deployed application, and redeploy each document or other data in use to a position in the document or data at which the document or data was being edited prior to the shutdown.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.